Rejection is always tough to take. I guess it gets a little easier as time goes by, even though they still sting. My hands still shake when I open the letter. I have had so many rejections about jobs, writing, art, and so forth, that I don't take it as personally as I did. I am far more fatalistic now and just think, "Well, it wasn't meant to be." That doesn't mean a rejection doesn't still hurt or make me question my abilities--I do move past the doubt faster than I did when I was 30. We just have to keep going and doing what it is we love to do or are driven to do. I keep telling myself that, anyway!

My latest rejection was from a juried art show that didn't accept any of the three paintings I submitted. The kind rejection letter (they are most often kindly written) said that 275 artists had submitted, so that's a lot. And many of them are artists by livelihood not hobby, so I guess that makes me feel a little better--not nearly as good as I would feel if one of my paintings was in, though!